With rear-view mirrors as described in German Patent Application No. 28 22 681 (in accordance with French Patent Application No. 24 26 590 and Swedish Patent Application 79 04 338), servomotors are mounted on a base plate connected directly to the mirror mounting unit. The actuator of the one servomotor is directly attached to the housing and pivots the housing around the horizontal axis of a universal joint fixed between the housing and the base plate. The other servomotor is attached to the universal joint and thus pivots the housing around its vertical axis. This type of mirror is of a clumsy construction so that its installation is very complicated. Further, the installation depth of the servomotor unit is relatively large so that the housing becomes in turn so large that the field of vision laterally forward of the driver is greatly reduced. This has a detrimental effect when the driver is backing the vehicle, a maneuver which requires accurate spatial location.
European Patent Application 0 090 909 proposes to overcome the above problem of mechanically adjustable rear-view mirrors by directly connecting the servomotor unit to the mounting unit. This configuration does not, however, lead to a sufficiently stable connection between the housing and the mounting unit, especially where larger rear-view mirrors are concerned.